"Yes; fellows who have served and marched side by side with us. Look there, for instance; do you see that sullen, black-looking dog squinting at us with such a friendly expression?"
"Baltasar de Villabuena, an old captain of our's before the war. He resigned when Zumalacarregui took the field, and joined the Carlists, and it seems they've made him a colonel. A surly, ill-conditioned cur he always was, or we should not be standing here without a word of kindness or consolation to offer him."
To the surprise of the guardsmen, Herrera, before the officer had done speaking, walked up to the prisoner in question.
"Colonel Villabuena?" said he, slightly touching his cap.
"That is my name," replied the prisoner, sullenly.
"We met yesterday, I believe," said Herrera, with cold politeness. "If I am not mistaken, you commanded the squadron which charged mine in the early part of the retreat."
"Is your horse amongst those yonder?" continued Herrera.
"It is," replied Baltasar, who, without comprehending the drift of these questions, began to entertain hopes that his rank and former comradeship with many officers of the Christino army were about to obtain him an indulgence rarely accorded, during that war, to prisoners of any grade--the captured Carlists being looked upon by their adversaries rather as rebels and malefactors than as prisoners of war, and treated accordingly. He imagined that his horse was about to be restored to him, and that he would be allowed to ride to Pampeluna.
"Yonder bay stallion," said he, "with a black sheepskin on the saddle, is mine."
Herrera approached the officer commanding the guard over the prisoner, spoke a few words to him, and returned to Baltasar.
"You will please to accompany me," said he.
Baltasar complied, and captive and captor advanced to the horses.
"This is mine," said Colonel Villabuena, laying his hand upon the neck of a powerful bay charger.
Without saying another word, Herrera raised the sheepskin covering the holsters, and withdrew from them a brace of pistols, which he carefully examined. They were handsomely mounted, long-barrelled, with a small smooth bore, and their buts were inlaid with a silver plate, upon which a coronet and the initials E. de V. were engraved.